Bouygues E&S has been appointed to deliver a renewable heat network project at the Cambridge Comberton Village College
The project to deliver a renewable heat network at the Cambridge Comberton Village College will last 12-months and aims to eliminate oil heating on site, replace end-of-life heating plant, and save on heating costs while reducing carbon emissions at the secondary school by 80%.
This project has been agreed by the Cam Academy Trust, Cambridgeshire County Council and Bouygues Energies & Services.
Bouygues will replace the aging oil boilers with a network distributing heat to the buildings on site.
Operating under the terms of the Re:fit3 Framework Agreement, and developed by the Greater London Authority and Local Partnerships, the renewable heat network will help with reducing carbon emissions from the college’s heating by 233 tonnes of CO2e (a 66% reduction) in the first year.
The heat will be supplied by 705 kW thermal of ground source heat pumps installed in the main plant room which will extract heat from an array of 200m deep boreholes through underground pipes.
This saving will further increase to 313 tonnes (an 89% reduction) in year 20, taking the secondary school completely off oil heating and replace oil boilers in ten different plant rooms.
As well as reducing carbon emissions, the project will save the college around £40,000 per annum compared to the cost of operating and maintaining oil heating.
‘An exemplar for retrofit decarbonisation of heating’
Councillor Lorna Dupré, chair of Cambridgeshire County Council’s environment & green investment committee, said: “Our vision is to deliver net-zero carbon emissions for Cambridgeshire and to bring forward the target for this from 2050 towards 2030.
“The Comberton Village College project is a great example of how we are working in partnership with our stakeholders to deliver this.
“The low carbon heat network will not only ensure that we are doing our part to tackle climate change, but also serve as an exemplar for retrofit decarbonisation of heating on other sites.”
Miles Messenger, head of energy performance contracting at Bouygues Energies & Services, added: “We are thrilled to be supporting Cambridgeshire County Council and Cam Academy Trust in the delivery of this pioneering low carbon heat network to Comberton Village College.
“The project will showcase how retrofitting renewable energy technology and heat network installation can deliver a significant long-term reduction in carbon emissions, reliable heat and address the college’s future lifecycle costs.
“Whilst projects like this are novel now, we expect that they will become a new norm in future years, as we move away from fossil-fuelled combustion to heat our buildings.”
The project has secured a £1.9m grant funding towards the £3m capital cost of the project from Phase 2 of the government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, the project will be further funded from Cambridgeshire County Council.
